For hundreds of years, people have seen their reflection behind the mirror. A person standing three feet from a conventional mirror is required to focus six feet in front of himself to view the reflection, as the image travels three feet to the mirror and three feet back to the user. Over 75 million Americans are near sighted. Near sighted individuals lack the ability to focus on distant objects, and for such people, a reflection is lost or blurred. Typically, a concave mirror is utilized to project an image into space.
There are many devices which use the reflective properties of optics to project a real image reflection of an object into free space. These images have been used to create optical illusions and special effects for entertainment. The images are created by light, reflected off a real object, which is focused to a region of space. The convergent light results in a real image.
In some of these devices, a concave mirror is used to project an image to an observer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,284 uses two opposing parabolic concave mirrors to project an object at one focal length to the other focal length. The real image of the object is projected through a small aperture in the surface of one mirror. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,130 projects a real object to an observer using two concave, offset surfaces. The image is reflected off each concave surface once; a first time to collect light from the image and reflect the light in parallel rays, and a second time to refocus the light at a point, creating a real image.
Many of the described devices are incapable of producing images that appear located in space beyond the mirrored device or require large concave mirrors with a large radius to project a reflection away from the mirror configuration. Additionally, many devices require the object be positioned at a strict location and likewise constrains the location of the final real image reflection.
The enumerated constraints limit use of these devices, and preclude use by the general public due to the complexity of the design. Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved image projecting device that provides three-dimensional real images in a user-friendly manner.